Officers with the sheriff's department and animal control officers also rounded up 12 severely neglected dogs.
Boyd Ragon James, 56, of 4546 Big Creek Road, in Grassy Fork, was arrested on the scene and charged with manufacturing marijuana (a felony) and 12 counts of animal cruelty and neglect.
Also arrested was Patricia Ann Loveday, 28, of the same address. She was charged with manufacturing marijuana (a felony) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The investigation began as part of a large marijuana eradication campaign carried out by the sheriff's department and officers from the Governor's Taskforce for Marijuana Eradication. Officers seized nearly 3,700 marijuana plants valued at nearly $3 million, according to Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes.
(Newport Plain Talk - June 26, 2012)
